A rabbinical court in Jerusalem has sentenced a dog to stoning, according to Behadrei Hadarim, a Hebrew website for ultra-Orthodox Jews. The sentencing came after a large dog wandered into the Monetary Affairs Court in the neighborhood of Mea Shearim.

"The dog scared the court's visitors and, to their surprise, refused to leave even after they attempted to drive him away."

The stubborn mutt reminded one of the judges of an incident from 20 years earlier:

"[A] famous secular lawyer who insulted the court was cursed by the panel of judges, who wished that his spirit would move on to the body of a dog...The lawyer passed away several years ago."

The report goes on to say that one of the judges then ordered "the children outside to throw stones at him in order to drive him away." The court now denies the story. The dog escaped unharmed.

UPDATE: The Israeli newspaper Maariv, apparently the source of the story, has published an apology regarding their coverage. Apparently a dog wandered into the court, but no child-stonings were ordered.

It read:

On the 3rd of June 2011 we published a story titled "Mea Shearim: Rabbinnical court orders the stoning of a dog". The story reported a police complaint filed by the Association for Animal Rights (Tza'ar Ba'alei Chaim) against the Jerusalem Rabbinnical Court for Financial Affairs. The story also featured the total denial of the Chief Justice of the court, Yehoshua Levin, of the complaint. The Rabbi said, among other things: "There is no basis for the abuse of an animal, neither from the Halacha nor by common sense". According to him, employees of the municipality have collected the dog from the court. The title of the story didn't fully present the entire story, and we apologize for the anguish caused to the court and its members.